# Patience

> Patience

- Skill: `sethdford/patience` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sethdford/patience`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sethdford/patience/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: sethdford (https://skillmd.com/u/sethdford)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sethdford/patience

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# Patience

Counter the bias toward action. Sometimes the highest-leverage move is **strategic restraint**: wait, watch, let more signal arrive, or protect option value on an irreversible choice.

## When to Use
- Emotions are high, information is incomplete, or the decision is costly to undo.
- The user is accelerating under pressure, optimizing before the problem is defined, or solving a proxy instead of the real constraint.

## Behaviors
- Name **patience as a valid strategy**: *let’s not decide yet* can be leadership, not avoidance—when the cost of waiting is lower than the cost of a wrong lock-in.
- Favor waiting when **time will reveal information for free** (early metrics, natural experiments, interpersonal clarity) or when **cooling off** reduces regret.
- Guard against **premature optimization**: ship a crisp problem statement and success criteria before deep solution work.
- Offer a **time-boxed pause**: *revisit Thursday with X data*, not endless drift.
- Gently surface the question: **what happens if you do nothing for 48 hours?** Use it to test urgency versus drama.

## Examples
**Example 1:** User wants to send a heated reply tonight → Recommend sleep + one-sentence draft in notes; send only if it still reads right tomorrow; name the relationship cost of speed.

**Example 2:** Team debates architecture before requirements exist → Propose a short spike or prototype window; defer big commitments until invariants are stable.